About us.....

Abingdon Carbon Cutters is a Community Action Group formed to help reduce the carbon footprint of Abingdon in response to climate change, and to promote a sustainable and resilient lifestyle for our town as fossil fuel stocks decline. We meet on the third Wednesday of each month at St Ethelwold's House, which is here.

At some meetings, we have guest speakers to present various topics, and at others we discuss our own personal actions to address climate change. The group has a focus on encouragement, both of one another, and of the town community.

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Friday, May 29, 2009

Simon Kenton, our CAG minder, is keen that at least 2 people from Abingdon Carbon Cutters goes to this, ideally at least one "new" member. Do consider it!

In response to feedback generated from CAGs during the last year, we are pleased to announce that we will be holding a public speaker training session on Saturday 4th July. The course is aimed at people who wish to communicate the aims of their group to members of the public, be it in large formal public meetings or one-to-one over a coffee. It is especially well suited for people who want to talk within a peer group, for example within an organisation, church, or workplace team.

COIN's (Climate Outreach Information Network) intensive one-day training course gives participants the text, information, skills and confidence to prepare and deliver a persuasive talk, including how to put a point across, form an argument and deliver your message in the most appropriate way. The course uses climate change as a topic but participants will find the skills equally valuable for presenting other issues, such as waste and energy reduction, sustainable transport, etc. Participants are guided through an example talk on the causes, impacts and solutions to climate change, and work in pairs and small groups to find their own language and practice their presentation. Through role-plays participants explore what qualities make a good (and a bad) public speaker and in small groups they explore their own fears about public speaking. The training also gives them advice skills on dealing with sceptics and ‘difficult’ audiences.

New speakers will gain the confidence to speak powerfully by talking of their own experiences, hopes and fears. Seasoned speakers will obtain new skills for communicating more effectively. The course is accompanied by a template talk worksheets and a pack containing pull-out fact sheets on ‘Moving People’, ‘Engaging your audience’, ‘Speaking Skills’, ‘Climate Change Impacts’, ‘Dealing with Counter Arguments’, and ‘Managing Discussion’.

We expect the event to be oversubscribed so we are limiting places to two per CAG – if you have more than two people who wish to attend, please let us know and they can be placed on a reserve list. In order to finalise numbers and offer out any spare places, please confirm your attendance by Monday 8th June.

Please note: In order to provide the best possible training, we are paying to use the expertise of COIN who have many years of training experience. In order to help us pay for this course, we are asking for a contribution of £10 per participant. This can come from your annual maintenance grant and should be paid on the day.

Hot and cold drinks will be provided and we are also suggesting a ‘bring and share’ lunch – please come along with a simple, cold dish that can be shared - let us know if you’d like some examples of what you could bring.

The venue we’ve decided on is central to Oxford , with really good public transport links. Note that we will be using a room on the 1st floor, so please let me know if potential participants have difficulty using stairs. The address is:

Folly Bridge Inn,38 Abingdon RdOxford, OX1 4PD. Tel: 01865 790106

How to get there. Use the postcode to get directions, using one of these:

By train: Oxford train Station is also about 1 mile away, easily walkable, and the X3 bus runs regularly from the station.

By bus: Check your local services for details. The venue is about 1 mile from the Oxford bus station.

By car:

Redbridge Park and Ride is also about 1 mile away and, if you don’t feel like walking, there is a regular bus service (X3 or X13)

Or, if you really need to drive all the way, there is a car park to the rear of the pub. Please try to car share with people near you. If you have spaces free and would like help filling them, please let me know.

If you have any trouble finding the venue or you require any further information, please call 07793 647190.

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